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This discussion of Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks (published by Routledge in 1994) was held on April 16, 2024. Should you wish to read and reflect on your own (or in the comments) this title is available in print at the MSU Main Library (Call Number: LC196 .H66 1994) or as an eBook (via Taylor & Francis eBooks). This book was a selection of the CTLI Graduate Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year and has been a regular source of pedagogical discussion for our cohort. 

If you missed the discussion or want to continue your reflection, in addition to the great reflection questions incorporated in each chapter of the book, here are the prompts we used for our discussion:


In what ways does bell hooks advocate for the integration of personal experiences and emotions into the learning process? How might this approach impact the dynamics of the classroom?
What are your thoughts about the way bell hooks addresses the intersection of race, gender, class, and other identities in the classroom? How can educators facilitate meaningful discussions and collaboration within diverse classroom settings?
What could we take from bell hooks’ approach to teaching and learning to respond to current anti-DEI trends? 
Discuss bell hooks' perspective on the relationship between education and social change. How does she argue that education can be a tool for liberation and resistance?
What role does courage play in bell hooks' approach to teaching? How can educators foster courage for themselves and among students and create inclusive learning environments? 
Reflect on your own experiences as a student or educator. How might bell hooks' insights and strategies in "Teaching to Transgress" inform your approach to teaching and learning?


Additional resources shared:

Addy, T. M., Dube, D., Mitchell, K. A., SoRelle, M. E., Longmire-Avital, B., & Felten, P. (2021). What inclusive instructors do: Principles and practices for excellence in college teaching. Routledge.
Collins, H. P., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality. Polity Press.
King, R. (2018). Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out. Sounds True.

Ideas from the discussion:

There are ways to acknowledge and express humanity through pedagogical design.
Engaged pedagogy that is inclusive of all learners' bodies and knowledge can help move the liberation needle, but only when it is authentic and not performatively. 
Engaged pedagogical design weaves inclusivity and care into the fabric of the course through learning outcomes, instructor facilitated inquiry, and the subsequent alignment of materials, assignments, and assessments.
A “culture of care" doesn’t have to be rhetorical; educators can be trained to embody that work / do that work in the classroom. Resources like the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation can help!
Building opportunities for learners to share their experience and knowledge with the classroom community is essential. 
“It is important to think critically about who counts as knowers and what counts as knowledge.” How might educators frame or norm what is considered “knowledge” in the classroom?
When we think about engaged pedagogy and the commitments (and labor!) of doing this work, we call upon courage. How can educators courageously build a community that promotes solidarity and facilitates the dismantling of unsafe spaces in higher education?


 
“The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place where paradise can be created. The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location  of possibility.  In  that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labor for freedom,  to demand of our­selves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move  beyond  boundaries,  to  transgress.  This  is  education  as the practice of freedom” (hooks, 1994, p.207).

If you’d like to nominate a title for a future CTLI book discussion and/or volunteer to co-facilitate a discussion, please reach out to Makena Neal at mneal@msu.edu

Cover photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

Hello, my name is KJ Downer-Shojgreen. My extensive experience in the public educational system as a teacher for both young and adult learners, combined with my roles as a Technology Coach and trainer in a large-scale school district, and as an Instructional Designer and trainer in both corporate and public university settings, has provided me with a solid and diverse professional foundation. My academic background, consisting of dual Bachelor's degrees and a Master's in Educational Technology, further enhances my skill set and aligns seamlessly with my career focus.
I have a strong track record in designing, facilitating, and managing learning and development initiatives, including staff training processes and procedures. At Michigan State University, I served as a Training Program Developer III on the Student Information Systems (SIS) Project, where I created a variety of training materials for campus-wide use. These resources included self-guided trainings, instructional videos, and reference guides tailored for end users.
Previously, as an Instructional Designer at XPO, I developed, scripted, and produced all training videos for the Less than a Truckload division. Beyond video production, I cohosted global interactive seminars and learning summits using platforms such as Skype, Zoom, GoToMeeting, and Adobe Connect, engaging audiences that included Executive Management, Senior Leadership, and Vice Presidents. Additionally, I designed onboarding e-learning materials and comprehensive curriculums for both new hires and current employees. These materials combined webinars, e-learning modules, and on-the-job training, all focused on core competencies critical for employee success during 30-, 60-, and 90-day evaluations.
I am particularly passionate about the transformative potential of Mixed Realities in Learning and Development (L&D). My goal is to create training experiences that are engaging, entertaining, and rewarding. By leveraging technology to simplify and enhance L&D, we can maximize knowledge retention and empower individuals to achieve greater success.
Outside of my professional pursuits, I am an avid golfer, deeply fascinated by astrophysics, and actively involved in 3D printing. I also enjoy following Rally Car and Formula 1 racing. Finally, I am proud to be a member of the Educator Developers Network.
 

If a student discloses that they have experienced discrimination or harassment, you must refer them to the Office of Institutional Equity. The Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) reviews concerns related to discrimination and harassment based on age, color, gender, gender identity, disability status, height, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status and weight under the University's Anti-Discrimination Policy (ADP) and concerns of sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence, domestic violence, and other forms of sexual misconduct under the Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct and Title IX (RVSM) Policy.  
A student can file a report here.  
 
Confidential reporting for students
There are a number of resources on campus that can provide a confidential space where students can explore their options, talk about what happened, and obtain support services. Individuals often find it difficult to speak about what happened. Talking with someone once, or receiving ongoing support, can aid in recovery and assist with safety planning. If students access these services, they will be directed to other needed resources.  These private and confidential resources are available at no cost. These services are not required to report incidents to the Office of Institutional Equity or campus police.  
A student can access confidential resources here.
 
Mandatory reporting for faculty and staff
All University “responsible employees” and volunteers who are not otherwise exempted by this policy and/or applicable law must promptly report incidents of relationship violence, sexual misconduct, stalking, and retaliation that they observe or learn about in their professional capacity or in the context of their work and that involve a member of the University community or which occurred at a University-sponsored event or on University property. Please review the University Reporting Protocol.
 

From the moment you present a mid-semester feedback opportunity to the learners in your course, it is imperative that you communicate your commitments to acting on the feedback. Have you ever had a peer or employer ask for your input on a project or initiative and then seem to completely ignore it? Maybe your significant other asked for your opinion on ways to tackle a challenge and then pursued an opposite approach? If you can recall a moment like this, how did it make you feel? 
When you collect mid-semester feedback, you are asking your students for feedback. You want to make sure they feel valued and heard, that they have a voice in your class space, and that their input isn’t being collected just “for show.” You should clearly indicate which elements of their feedback you will and will not act on (and why). We know that students who feel empowered and who see their voice reflected in class activities feel more engaged and are more likely to show positive learning outcomes.
There is a body of literature that indicates biases are real and problematic in students’ evaluation of teaching. The goal of this mid-semester instrument is not evaluative of the instructor, but instead is focused on feedback surrounding the learning experience. That being said, be aware that a host of factors including (but not limited to) gender, race, and subject matter, stress, and load can lead students to make statements that imprecisely reflect the actual quality of instruction.
We recognize it can be difficult to look past the most impassioned individual feedback and consider all the data holistically, but remember that the “loudest” voice or the longest comments may not reflect the overall feelings of learners. One helpful strategy is to have someone you trust read the comments before you do, then provide you their overall impressions and filter out any inappropriate remarks.  
 
The following is Adapted from the Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative at MSU: Scott Schopieray (CAL), Stephen Thomas (Nat. Sci.) Sarah Wellman (CAL & Broad), Jeremy Van Hof (Broad). 
Additional sources: Faculty Innovation Center at University of Texas at Austin
Toshalis, Eric & Nakkula, Michael (2012). Motivation, Engagement, and Student Voice. The Student at the Center Series, Jobs For the Future.
Justin Esarey & Natalie Valdes (2020) Unbiased, reliable, and valid student evaluations can still be unfair, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2020.1724875
 

Topic Area: DEI
Presented By: Sonja Fritzsche, Amy Martin, and Peter De Costa 
Abstract:
We propose an information session as a report out on the activities of our AAN Learning Community from AY 2020-21: Anti-racist Approaches to Learning and Teaching with Faculty, Staff and Students. This effort is part of MSU’s learning community program organized by the Academic Advancement Network (AAN). You can read more about this learning community and others on the AAN website.   
This year we created a learning community space where learners of all races and ethnicities could commit to reading, viewing, and listening to the research, creative scholarship, and voices of what our MSU campus colleagues and others have published on whiteness, social justice, and anti-racist issues. A group of over 20 faculty, graduate students, staff, and administrators from three different colleges and several administrative units spent time reflecting on our own areas of growth and what we needed to change about ourselves and our approaches to teaching and facilitating learning for others. Together we agreed on collective rules of engagement for respectful and sometimes difficult conversations where we could call each other in on issues and learn from them. We also committed to a set of individual and collective strategies where we become racial justice accomplices, envisioning a community free from racial injustice. Please join us for an interactive discussion about what we read, what we learned, and what actions we committed to undertake. We invite you to engage us, challenge us, and enhance the strategies we plan to implement during the next academic year. The panel will consist of members of the learning community.

Background
This is a group activity for students in an introductory course on race, gender, sexuality, disability, class stratification, and various intersecting identity categories. In this activity, students work in small groups to break down different aspects of systems of oppression related to the listed identity categories, like racism and/or heteropatriarchy. The activity pairs well with a number of readings, but here are some helpful suggestions:  The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, “Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris Marion Young, “Full-Frontal Morality: The Naked Truth About Gender” by Talia Mae Bettcher, and “Rape, Racism, and the Myth of the Black Rapist” by Angela Y. Davis. The following instructions are for a tree activity about The New Jim Crow. Note: the activity should be done after lecture and discussion on the book. 
 
Implementation

Put students in groups of four or five
Alternate assigning groups ‘Jim Crow’ and ‘Prison Industrial Complex’
Ask each group to draw a tree with roots, a thick trunk, branches, and many leaves
Ask each group to use references from the text to identify different ‘roots’, ‘tree trunks’, ‘branches’, and ‘leaves’ of Jim Crow or the Prison Industrial Complex.   
Provide examples of each part of the tree to get them started, e.g. a leaf of Jim Crow may be poll taxes, while a root may be racism and white economic anxiety.  
Allow 30-35min. Walk around and check in with groups about their trees asking why one thing is a leaf instead of a branch, weaving in relevant points from the previous discussion of the text, etc.
Reassure students that each tree will likely be different and that is wonderful. 
Ask groups to present their trees and the rationale for each piece. 
Tape the trees to a central wall/board separating ‘Jim Crow’ trees and ‘Prison Industrial Complex’ tress.
Ask students if they see similarities and/or differences between the two types of trees.
Prompt discussion about the relationship between the two types of trees according to Alexander.
Congratulate and thank students for their hard work. 
Ask students to reflect on what systems may look like if at their root were good things like ‘justice,’ ‘healing,’ ‘equity,’ etc.

1. Review the feedback
You want to ensure students feel their feedback is valuable to you and the course, so keep your students abreast on where you are in the review process. Are you synthesizing data? Noting key themes? Maybe you're working on a way to present the anonymous findings back to your class. Regardless, review the data, share it back, and make a plan for change. 
 
2. Quick Tips on How to Interpret the Data 
Review our article on how to interpret the data. These tips are adapted from the Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative at MSU: Scott Schopieray (CAL), Stephen Thomas (Nat. Sci.) Sarah Wellman (CAL & Broad), Jeremy Van Hof (Broad). Additional sources: Faculty Innovation Center at University of Texas at Austin 
 
3. Discuss with a Colleague 
Review this article on debriefing with peers. 
There is a body of literature that indicates biases are real and problematic in students’ evaluation of teaching. The goal of this mid-semester instrument is not evaluative of the instructor, but instead is focused on feedback surrounding the learning experience. That being said, be aware that a host of factors including (but not limited to) gender, race, and subject matter, stress, and load can lead students to make statements that imprecisely reflect the actual quality of instruction.
We recognize it can be difficult to look past the most impassioned individual feedback and consider all the data holistically, but remember that the “loudest” voice or the longest comments may not reflect the overall feelings of learners. One helpful strategy is to have someone you trust read the comments before you do, then provide you their overall impressions and filter out any inappropriate remarks.  
 
4. Share with students the common themes surfaced in the data
When you collect mid-semester feedback, you are asking your students for feedback. You want to make sure they feel valued and heard, that they have a voice in your class space, and that their input isn’t being collected just “for show.” You should clearly indicate which elements of their feedback you will and will not act on (and why). We know that students who feel empowered and who see their voice reflected in class activities feel more engaged and are more likely to show positive learning outcomes.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
 
What Do I Mean By “Inclusive”?
 
Before I start discussing how your content and curriculum design choices can be more inclusive, let’s start with a working definition for an inclusive classroom. According to the Association of American Colleges & Universities, inclusive classrooms are learning spaces where “active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity” occurs “in ways that increase awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathetic understanding of the complex individuals interact within systems and institutions.”  So, as an instructor concerned about inclusive teaching, I encourage you do consider how your course content and assignments both represent a diverse (for example, gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, nationality, epistemological perspectives) set of scholarly voices and how you can hold yourself – and your students—to more inclusive standards of behavior and discourse in the classroom.
 
Inclusive Classrooms Require Intentional Thought and Not “Extra Work”
 
Creating an inclusive environment in your classroom does not require “extra work” – what it requires is “intentional thought” in how you plan and implement your classes. This involves a deliberate awareness of the decisions you’re making and the impact they have on how you represent your discipline and the multiple voices connected to it. I’d argue that this level of intentionality is a key hallmark of curriculum design across disciplines.
 
Four Tips Toward Inclusive Curriculum Design
 
(1) Select the work of scholars from different cultural or paradigmatic backgrounds: Make sure you are presenting a variety of voices and perspectives across the course readings, videos and material you select.  Additionally important is presenting a full spectrum of disciplinary paradigms in the field so that students have a full picture of disciplinary conversation(s).
 
(2) Acknowledge the limitations of course material with regards to demographic representation: Frame what you are providing and point out the potential limitations of your materials. This can help students see how and why you have made the decisions you did. This can also help students to get a better window into your teaching decisions and engage alongside you critically.
 
(3) Pay attention to WHO and HOW you represent in your presentation slides, case studies, videos, and guest panels: As with our tips above, it’s important that the slides, case studies, and videos you use reflect multiple voices and backgrounds. Additionally, it’s important to pay attention to how various individuals and groups are portrayed in these materials. In their portrayals, are you sending the messages you want sent to a diverse group of students?
 
(4) Maximize the inclusion of all student voices in instructional activities: Make sure you provide multiple opportunities and safe spaces in your classroom for all student voices. Not all students will immediately respond to one way of engaging in the classroom, so make sure your approaches vary and respond to what you have come to know about the different students in class. We will share more specific tips about instructional activities in later posts.